German prosecutors say they have indicted on murder charges a Palestinian man who fatally stabbed one person and wounded six others at a Hamburg supermarket in July.

The suspect wanted to kill as many Germans of Christian faith as possible to avenge what he considered to be injustices against Muslims worldwide, federal prosecutors said in a statement.

He considered his actions a "contribution to a worldwide jihad," they added.

The 26-year-old suspect, a rejected asylum-seeker identified only as Ahmad A due to German privacy rules, was charged with one count of murder, six counts of attempted murder and six counts of serious bodily harm.

Prosecutors said investigators had found no credible evidence that Mr A, who was born in the United Arab Emirates and arrived in Germany in 2015, was involved with or had the support of any extremist group, such as the so-called Islamic State group.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s bid to form a new government failed, raising the prospect of fresh elections in Europe’s largest economy and casting doubt on the future of its longest-serving leader.

A month of coalition talks collapsed in dramatic fashion just before midnight Sunday as disputes among a grab-bag of disparate parties over migration and other polices led the Free Democrats to walk out.

Merkel, whose 12 years in office have made her an anchor for the European Union in times of crisis, said she’ll stay on as acting chancellor and consult with Germany’s president later Monday on what comes next. Relying on a minority administration with shifting alliances to pass legislation over the next four years would run counter to her promise to provide a stable government. ...

Merkel can now ask President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to order what would be the second national election since September, most likely in the spring, or form a minority government headed by her Christian Democratic-led bloc. Both scenarios would push a country that’s had just eight leaders since World War II into uncharted territory.

Police continue investigation while tributes pour in for Muenster victims
By Lucas Radicella
last updated: 08/04/2018

Tributes poured in on Sunday for the victims of the car attack that killed two people in the German city of Muenster on Saturday as police continue to investigate the incident.

The suspect killed two people at the Grosser Kiepenkerl restaurant in the old town of the city in the northwestern region of North Rhine-Westphalia. He then took his own life with a gun.

No clear motive has officially been given by the authorities for the attack, though the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported in its online edition that the suspect was Jens R., 48, who resided some 2 km (1.2 miles) from the crime scene. Broadcaster ZDF said police were searching his apartment and that he had contact with far-right extremists, but there was no evidence thus far that he was a far-right extremist himself.

BERLIN (AP) — Six people were detained in connection with what police and prosecutors allege was a plan to carry out an attack on Berlin’s half-marathon Sunday, German authorities said. A police spokesman later said that no athletes or spectators had been in danger.

“There were isolated indications that those arrested, aged between 18 and 21 years, were participating in the preparation of a crime in connection with this event,” prosecutors and police wrote in a joint statement.

Berlin police tweeted that six people were detained in cooperation with the city’s prosecutor’s office.

The German daily Die Welt first reported that police foiled a plot to attack race spectators and participants with knives.

The main suspect allegedly knew Anis Amri, a Tunisian who killed 12 people and injured dozens more when he drove a truck into a Christmas market in Berlin in December 2016, Die Welt reported.

Police spokesman Thomas Neuendorf told local broadcaster RBB that the evidence of a viable and imminent attack was not yet confirmed.

As Donald Trump shakes up the global order, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is being pushed closer toward a more predictable partner in Moscow.

When President Vladimir Putin hosted Merkel in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Friday, both leaders did their best to keep tensions in the background compared with a year ago, when they clashed over Ukraine and Russian election meddling. Now, they’re aligned in trying to shield businesses from U.S. sanctions, defend the Iran nuclear accord ditched by Trump and rebuffing American objections to a Russian gas pipeline to Germany.

Even so, neither leader unveiled any immediate policy breakthrough.

“If you want to solve problems, you have to talk to each other,” Merkel said alongside Putin at a news conference midway through the talks. “There also are points where we agree, which is good, considering all the issues on which we don’t agree.” ...

Rapprochement with Russia is now a core policy objective in Berlin, according to a senior German official with knowledge of the chancellery’s strategy. The shift in sentiment, underscoring why Russia would have meddled in the 2016 election campaign to favor the Republican wild card, is a consequence of the actions of a U.S. president who has strained the long-standing alliance with Europe.